an i-D look at australian student style around the country

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been speaking to university students around the country about that they’re loving, loathing and wearing. From Sydney to Perth, we asked them to give us the lowdown on their city’s style, and shout out the trends they’re...

Joe Brennan kicked things off in Sydney, where he learned the fashion set was influenced by cultural diversity, the beach and a desire to do things differently.

Samantha, 21, completing honours in fashion and textiles

How do you feel Sydney style is unique compared to the rest of the country?I feel as though Sydney is extremely multi-cultural so it tends to adopt a more diverse range of styles and the way individuals express themselves. It all comes down to culture and access, not only physically but educationally.

Describe your city's style in one sentence?Comfortable yet conservative, expressed and influenced by global and high fashion trends.

Jon, 21, studying fine arts

Do people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?Sydney's fashion aesthetic is so wild sometimes, I think we really don't know what's up so we dress so silly and people respond to that so that's cool.

What feeds into how people dress here?We have accessibility to everything in Sydney and a lot of people here, especially in these scenes are backed by $$$.

Describe your city's style in one sentence?Sydney City, we all look so pretty.

Over in Melbourne Tasha Tylee learnt about dressing "woke" and how to look rich while feeling poor.

Sam, 20, studying digital media

Do you feel like people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?The people that I know definitely have a certain aesthetic going on, you can always spot them having undercut hairstyles, wearing vintage sunglasses, fishnets under ripped jeans, and chokers. There are certain groups of people like back in high school: the basics, the punks, the hipsters, etc. I feel like the people I know from other cities are a lot plainer in the way they dress but I can't generalise everyone.

Describe your city's style in one sentence?When you have a punk party at 9 but mum said you gotta be home before 10.

Maxim, 20, studying fine arts

Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?Yep, dressing like you're rich, dressing like you're poor, combining the two

What factors feed into how people dress here?I think there's an anxiety about not trying too hard or looking too rich which is acute in Melbourne. Also we've got a bunch of stores that really shape how people dress: dot COMME has made it possible for 16-year-old Melburnians to be decked out in 80s and 90s Comme gear. Kind of a weird sight. The looks that circulate on Instagram are also a big factor. Being woke is big cultural capital and it all ties in.

In Canberra Arnad Hajdic discovered there was more to our capital city than public servants. When the sensible suits come off, the band t-shirts go on.

Kofi (Lil Boosie for short), 18, Journalism

How do you feel Canberra style is unique to the rest of the country?With a lot of people I know, when they visit Melbourne or Sydney, the first thing they want to do is shop, I guess because a lot of things aren't as available here as they are there. But it's that scarcity of resources that sparks creativity. Sometimes we didn't want to wear the clothes offered to us so we just made our own. Or wore the things our friends made.

What's something your seeing everywhere around uni at the moment?I'm seeing a lot of people rocking thongs at uni. I don't do thongs, not my vibe. But I can't hate, more power to you. Imma do these sandals though.

Describe Canberra style in one sentence.One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Georgina, 23, studying industrial design

Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?Not necessarily, it's tamer when compared to our other capital cities due to size and demographic. People tend to stick to the main trends. Although a multicultural influence is evident in Canberra's fashion aesthetic, with an increase in up-cycling and recycling clothing becoming more apparent.

What are you're seeing everywhere around uni at the moment?Adidas Stan Smiths.

Things might move a little more slowly in Adelaide, but Eric Brumfield found out that just means you have more time to find your style — here it's about chilling out and dressing for yourself.

Ruby, 22, studying speech pathology and visual arts

Do you feel like people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?I think people in Adelaide have quite an effortless style. I'm not really sure what sets us apart from the rest of Australia. Perhaps it's because Adelaide has less of a big city feel to it? The alternative scene and other subcultures exist and are important, no doubt, but they're not so much at the forefront.

What factors feed into how people dress here?Our lifestyle and culture seems much more relaxed and not as fast-paced, so I think that's quite often reflected in the fashion.

Describe your city's style in one sentence?Low-key but with a bit of flavour.

Dylan Rowen, 20, studying arts

Do you feel like people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?Yeah definitely, it's more dictated by circumstances and cash — but I'm really seeing an evolution of style in inner city Adelaide, it's quite lush and refreshing actually.

How do you feel it's unique to the rest of the country?We distance ourselves from Melbourne, but manage to appropriate, salvage and borrow fashion ideals from most major Australian cities. I feel like the fashion finds its home online, we can use the web as a sort of safe space to try out new ideas and execute designs and patterns and clothes that represent who we are, who we want to be seen as, who we want to dress as.

What factors feed into how people dress here?Internet and weather to be quite honest, the heat is intolerable, the rain too much. We dress for the weather, but we dress for ourselves.

Michael Tartaglia headed to class in Perth to learn isolation breeds individuality, and locals are more influenced by their friends than trends.

Yosi, 18, studying psychology

Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?Perth isn't particularly unique in terms of fashion, however if anything the people of Perth take shoes quite seriously. Even people I know who don't really have an interest in clothing, still know a decent amount about footwear.

What factors feed into how people dress here?I read somewhere that Perth is the most isolated city in the world, and I guess to some degree this has affected the lack of diversity in fashion. However, I do believe that we are starting to establish an identity of our own.

Naomi, 19, studying biomedical science

Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?I don't think there's only one fashion aesthetic, there's a few different crowds you could group into: There's the surfy-beachy-indie people look, the bohemian look, the Kardashian look with all the tight clothing, the 90s sporty look, the more sophisticated look etc.

What's something you're seeing everywhere around uni at the moment?A lot of different types of denim! Like ripped or frayed, tight or baggy, in the form of skirts, pants, shorts and jackets.

Finally we finished up in Brisbane, and Claudia Smith's investigation into how people look so cool when it's so bloody hot.

Henri, 21, studying fine art

Do you feel your city's style is unique to the rest of the country?People seem to treat it as a bit of a joke. Tracky dacks, sandals and a Ralph Lauren polo type thing. There are quite a lot of ironic clothing choices. To be honest I think it's totally mocking the exclusivity of designer brands, but, people still appreciate their quality. Finding them in op shops is both great and really funny.

What factors feed into how people dress here?I think Australia in general has a real problem with tall poppy syndrome, where it's almost cultural to cut down or shun people who are doing well for themselves. Maybe that's led to this reality of Brisbane style being quite anti-fashion.

Describe your city's style in one sentence?Hey, can I borrow your Billabong shirt? My cousin invited me to a ball.

Iris, 19, studying fashion design

Do you feel your city's style is unique to the rest of the country?I reckon elsewhere there is more of a balance between fitting in/standing out, but in Brisbane there's more emphasis on fitting in and the security consumers get from wearing brands... maybe it's the heat? People just want to put something on long enough until they can get to a pool/beach and strip. But I'm totally generalising, I do see street style I admire.